Mr. Maude:
I think that Labour Members are all on question No. 2, which I have already answered.Social security spending is set to increase by £37 billion over the next three years, which is almost as much as the increases in health and education spending put together.

Mr. Derek Twigg (Halton)rose--

Mr. Maude:
The Labour party committed itself in its manifesto to cutting social security bills and the Prime Minister said the same immediately after the general election. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will explain what went wrong. Why has the Prime Minister's clear pledge in absolute terms to cut social security bills resulted in an increase in social security spending of £37 billion?

Mr. Twigg:
The right hon. Gentleman has been asked this question many times. Will he tell us what the Conservative party would cut out of the £40 billion if they were in government?

Mr. Maude:
None of it. We have said so many times. I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman could not answer my question, which was: what went wrong with the Prime

Madam Speaker:
Order. The right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) has made it clear that he will not give way for a while, so hon. Members should not persist in trying to intervene for the time being.

Mr. Maude:
Last Friday--black Friday--no fewer than 4,200 job losses were announced, including job losses in BMW, which was lauding Britain's productivity to the skies barely three years ago. Today, it has been announced that 1,250 jobs are to go at Courtaulds Textiles. That is what is going on in the economy. The Government should admit it and take steps to mitigate the effects.

Mr. Maude:
No. I am making progress. The Speech contained much about the Government helping to prepare the European Union for historic challenges--talk of working with European partners to promote economic reforms and of preparations for the introduction of the euro--but nothing about the principal European issue of the day. If it were not so damaging to the country, a certain innocent pleasure could be had from the spectacle of the Chancellor tying himself in ever-tighter knots over European tax harmonisation. On that issue, as on so many before, the Government are trying to have it both ways and to be all things to all men.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Stephen Byers):
I regret the fact that the right hon. Gentleman did not read out the paragraph to which he referred, because he omitted some important words. For the record, I draw his attention to the words that he missed out. The document clearly states:

"We must make further progress in tax and benefit reform to help safeguard and create jobs in Europe by implementing an effective code of conduct."

Mr. Maude:
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for amplifying and confirming my point: there is a clear commitment in Labour policy documents to taking further a process of tax co-ordination and harmonisation that can only increase Britain's taxes to continental levels.

Mr. Paul Marsden (Shrewsbury and Atcham):
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?